- Joined
- Feb 5, 2011
There are two terms on TV tropes when it comes to villains. Both qualify as "ymmv" your mileage may vary. Meaning it all depends on how the viewer sees the villain.
Complete Monster: A villain who has no redeeming qualities at all, all of his actions are treated seriously and are unable to show any level of regret for their actions.
Moral Event Horizon: A character goes entirely into the realm of irredeemable. Even if they don't go into the route of Complete Monster, they do something so awful that the viewers, and the characters, see them incapable of ever being one of the good guys. (Sometimes this happens though)
Why do I bring this up? If you were to go to TV Tropes, you'd find only two villains from The Legend of Zelda qualify as Complete Monsters. Those being Majora and Yuga (To avoid spoilers, mostly for A Link Between Worlds, I won't post why they qualify). Many villains in the series also go into the route of Moral Event Horizon, but, again, avoiding spoilers.
We always talk about villains, but one thing I never see people discuss is how evil do we want them to be.
Do you want to see more grey villains, villains capable of reforming, villains who are well-intentioned, or villains whose motives and actions make them seen as incapable of ever being forgivable?
Complete Monster: A villain who has no redeeming qualities at all, all of his actions are treated seriously and are unable to show any level of regret for their actions.
Moral Event Horizon: A character goes entirely into the realm of irredeemable. Even if they don't go into the route of Complete Monster, they do something so awful that the viewers, and the characters, see them incapable of ever being one of the good guys. (Sometimes this happens though)
Why do I bring this up? If you were to go to TV Tropes, you'd find only two villains from The Legend of Zelda qualify as Complete Monsters. Those being Majora and Yuga (To avoid spoilers, mostly for A Link Between Worlds, I won't post why they qualify). Many villains in the series also go into the route of Moral Event Horizon, but, again, avoiding spoilers.
We always talk about villains, but one thing I never see people discuss is how evil do we want them to be.
Do you want to see more grey villains, villains capable of reforming, villains who are well-intentioned, or villains whose motives and actions make them seen as incapable of ever being forgivable?